Women in Business Conference

Keynote Speaker:
Arlene Dickinson
"Dragon", CBC's Dragons’ Den | General Partner, District Ventures Capital | Bestselling Author

“The purpose of marketing is to deliver business results,” says Arlene Dickinson, renowned CBC “Dragon” and one of Canada’s most successful communications entrepreneurs. Whether explaining how to leverage marketing in even the toughest of economic times, sharing backstage stories from “The Den,” or giving audiences a look into her personal story of success, Dickinson’s experience and expertise always shines through.
 
Dickinson is a serial entrepreneur and General Partner of District Ventures Capital, a venture capital fund focused on helping market, fund and grow entrepreneurs and their companies, in the food and health space. Best known to Canadians as a star of CBC’s award-winning series Dragons’ Den for over 12 seasons, Dickinson is also a podcaster, renowned speaker, and the author of three bestselling books: Persuasion, All In, and her most recent, Reinvention.

Workshop Speaker:

Joy Playford, CMC, CFC
President, Playford Performance Group Inc.

Joy is an innovative leader with a passion for people, building community, developing organizational bench-strength and delivering results.

Her interest in leadership started early, growing up in her family’s manufacturing business, where she learned firsthand the impact of entrepreneurs creating business success, developing opportunities for people and building strong communities.

Over a 30-year corporate leadership career, Joy effectively led change, turned around and grew business results, developed new service offerings and cultivated strategic partnerships. In private practice, Joy continues to support leaders and their success by providing Executive Coaching, Advisory and Consulting Services and Leadership Development as well as Team Facilitation support. 

Workshop Speaker:

Jillian Climie
Co-Founder, The Thoughtful Co. 

Jillian Climie has spent her career advising and leading teams in executive compensation and corporate governance, both as a consultant, and in-house at two global retailers. Most recently at Lululemon, she led the global equity compensation and executive compensation programs.

After taking a pause, she realized she wanted more of three things in her professional life: thoroughness, passion and freedom. She Co-Founded The Thoughtful Co so she can leverage her niche and technical experience, coupled with her passion for gender equity, to empower women to get paid what they deserve.

Host & Moderator:

Kelly Davidson 
CIM®, CIWM
Associate Portfolio Manager, Odlum Brown

Kelly Davidson is an Investment Associate, Associate Portfolio Manager at Odlum Brown Limited. She holds an undergraduate degree in business management from UBCO and has since achieved her Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®) and Certified International Wealth Manager (CIWM) designations. Kelly is also an aspiring CFA Charterholder, having successfully completed Level 1 of the CFA program. 

In addition to her career in finance, Kelly is passionate about investing in community. She is currently a board member for the Kelowna Women’s Shelter, the chair of the local Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope, and a member of the Catalyst Ambassadors for the BC Cancer Foundation. Kelly was also previously recognized as Kelowna’s Woman of the Year (2017) for her work with HOPE Okanagan and was appointed to the mayor’s task force to develop a strategy to address homelessness. She has spoken at several events including We for She Kelowna, the City of Kelowna’s International Women’s Day ceremony, as well as at Breaking Boundaries Okanagan, a conference she founded and organized in 2016 and 2017.

At the Women in Business Conference, Kelly will be moderating the lunchtime panel discussion. 

Host & Moderator:

Pamela Pearson
Director of Operations, Sentes Automotive

Panelist:
Tracy Medve
President & CEO of KF Aerospace

Since 1985 Tracy has held various senior airline management positions at Norcanair, Time Air, Canadian Partner and Canadian Regional Airlines. Tracy was the co-founder of C.T. AeroProjects, a Calgary-based consultancy focused on air transport resource management, working with a wide range of public and private aviation clients around the world. From 2007 to 2012 Tracy was the President of Canadian North Airlines. In May 2013 Tracy was appointed as the President of KF Aerospace and became President and CEO in August 2021.

Tracy is a lawyer by training (University of Saskatchewan, 1982) and in 2009 graduated from the John Molson School of Business Global Aviation MBA program at Concordia University. She is the 2007 recipient of the John Molson School of Business MBA Scholarship and was inducted as a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society in 2009. She is also the recipient of the James C. Floyd Award for her contribution to the Canadian aerospace industry, awarded in November 2022.

Tracy is the Past Chair of the Air Transportation Association of Canada and the first woman in Canada to be inducted as an Honorary Life Member of ATAC. She also sat as a Director of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) and was a member of the University of British Columbia, Okanagan External Advisory Board. Since 2003 she has served as a part-time member of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada (TATC). Tracy is the current Chair of the Fortis BC Board of Directors and the current Chair of SkyAlyne.

Tracy also served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves as a Signals Officer from 1975 to 1981. She has two adult sons and enjoys golfing, cycling and learning to play the piano in her spare time.

Panelist:
Shauna Harper
CEO of WeBC

Shauna Harper is the CEO of WeBC, based in our Kelowna office. As a federally funded not-for-profit organization, WeBC provides thousands of women entrepreneurs across BC with business loans, expertise, training, resources, and peer support to help their businesses grow and thrive each year.

Shauna is an impact-driven leader, community champion, speaker, mentor, and connector in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. She is a nationally-recognized advocate for women entrepreneurs, gender equity, and a champion for increased access to services, training, support, and funding. Her strengths include marketing & communications strategy, participatory and collaborative facilitation, business development, community engagement, team building, as well as the development of strategic partnerships and programs.
Prior to coming to WeBC, Shauna was an entrepreneur for 22 years. She owned a manufacturing company that created and sold inspirational glass stone magnets globally, and a marketing and communications company that helped small businesses and not-for-profit organizations by offering marketing strategies, project management, team support, and marketing training.

In 2015, Shauna was the co-facilitator of the regional Catalyst for Growth dialogues that actively explored how to support economic growth through women and create a greater impact by growing the number of women in senior leadership roles, trades, emerging sectors, and as entrepreneurs. She was also a facilitator for portions of the BC Economic Forum (2015) and the We for She Conference (2016).

Shauna has been recognized for her leadership and impact. She was named a Woman of Influence by BC Business Magazine; and Business Person of the Year and Top 40 Under 40 by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. She was on the BC Premier’s Women’s Economic Council as an advisor from 2014-2017, and an advisor on the Government of Canada’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy in 2019. Shauna’s vision for WeBC is to continue to build on the incredible success and momentum of the team, while exploring the possibilities in the next phase of collaboration, sustainability, and impact.

Panelist:
Pardeep Khrod
Associate Vice President, Development at BC Cancer Foundation

Pardeep is a strategic and visionary leader with over 20 years of leadership experience in both the private and public sector. She is a highly respected leader with a with a proven track record in delivering a strategic approach to achieve results.  Over the span of her professional career, Pardeep has successfully grown and overseen a wide range of portfolios, including operations, marketing, risk management, finance and audit, acquisitions and development. Her expertise lies in driving large scale business growth and transformation in multifaceted and complex organizations. 

After completing her BA from the University of British Columbia and Financial Management at BCIT, Pardeep started a career in corporate where she effectively built high preforming teams and achieved unprecedented growth. Her passion is building organizational bench strength by investing in people.  In her current role as Associate Vice President for the Interior, North and Fraser, Pardeep provides strategic leadership and vision for the regions development portfolio, with a  focus on brand awareness, stakeholder engagement, and securing private sector support. Pardeep spearheads the BC Cancer Foundation’s regional strategy for the Beyond Belief campaign, the most ambitious and comprehensive health campaign in the history of B.C. to raise $500 million for BC Cancer to advance research, enhance patient care and transform critical infrastructure.

Pardeep grew up in Golden, B.C. After spending 21 years in the lower mainland, she is proud to call Kelowna her home with her husband and two children.